


Recognition

by Mjazilem



Category: Robin Hood (Traditional), Robin Hood - All Media Types, The New Adventures of Robin Hood, The New Adventures of Robin Hood (TV 1997)
Genre: Drama, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 08:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2422733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mjazilem/pseuds/Mjazilem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robin is captured but the kidnappers wind up captured themselves.  Unconscious and Injured Robin's fate is now in the hands of a noble woman and her children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Outlaw

**Author's Note:**

> This story is loosely inspired by The New Adventures of Robin Hood where in the episode 'the birthday trap' Robin goes to see his Stepmother.

“Mother Mother” Marie heard her son before she saw him and could hear the excitement in his voice before she saw how wide and excited his eyes were. 

“My goodness what is it Michael?” She asked as her son came running into her Chambers. 

“The guards have brought in a group of men who were trespassing through the Count’s woods these men say they have captured Robin Hood and are passing through on their way to Prince John.”

“Do they truly have him?” The quiet melodic voice of Marie’s daughter came from the doorway behind her brother.

“I believe they do, I never got a good look at him, he was tied and draped over a horse.”

Rose gasped. “Is he dead?”

“I do not know he could have been.”

“Both of you go to your studies, I will see to this.” Marie knew with her husband away on business that she should be the one to counsel the guard as acting head of the household. 

She entered the courtyard and saw the band of bandits that her son had spoke of. They were tied up and seated in the center of the yard with guards surrounding them. Her man Kirk came to her side. “Ma’am, we have apprehended trespassers in the Count’s woods we will be taking them the magistrate in the morning.”

“What were they doing in the woods?”

“They said they were traveling to King John’s outpost to collect the bounty on the outlaw Robin Hood.” Kirk indicated the man on the ground by the far court yard wall who was slumped over and not moving. Marie could see his dark hair hanging in his face and his hands and feet were tied and he was covered in mud and blood from head to foot. 

“Is he alive.”

“He is ma’am.”

“Have him put in one of the camber in the north wing, guard the door yourself and let no one pass till I have come.” Marie knew the order would sound strange to her man and the look on his face said that she was right.

“Ma’am.” 

“Those are my wishes Kirk, see that they are done. Put the trespassers in the cells and take them in the morning.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Marie then went to the kitchen. She knew the cooks and their attendants well as she worked with them daily in running the household.  
The woman in the kitchen stood from their work when Marie entered the room. “What can we assist you with my Lady.” The head house keeper asked spoon in hand.

“Anna I need you and some of your girls to bring hot water, soap and rags and accompany me to the North wing. I have a guest who needs attention.”

“Very well ma’am may we ask who we are to give attention to.”

“A wounded man found in the woods.” Marie left it at that and Anna seemed satisfied with the answer. Marie waited as the staff collected the things they needed.  
Marie led them to the North wing and she was truly not sure what she would find in the chamber. What she knew though were the stories she had heard about Robin Hood, a brave outlaw who robbed the rich to give to the poor, who worked to protected the Saxon people from the oppressive Normans who meant to fleece them. She would know if the man in her castle was truly that man or if that man was merely a legend.

Her man Kirk stood guard just as she asked him and he stepped aside without word of inquire to let the woman pass.

The Chamber was small and sparse, a bed, a chair, a table, a truck and a window was all there was usually now there was a man. He was laying on his back on the bed his hands and feet still bound. He was quiet with his head rolled to one side practically off the pillow. He was unconscious with his muddy hair hanging over his face.

The attendants came in behind Marie, putting their buckets down. “Ma’am may we remove the ropes so we may remove his filthy clothes?” 

Marie paused that would be necessary to actually get him clean. “Kirk” She said over her shoulder and the guard appeared promptly in the doorway. “Ma’am”

“Please untie this man.”

“Are you sure?”

“Quite.” Without another word he moved swiftly and cut the ropes. Just as swiftly the attendants swooped in and started pulling off the man’s boots and untying his muddy clothing. When he was striped they started washing him down. Marie could see under the mud he was covered in many dark bruises, cuts and more than a few angry old scars. 

Once Anna deemed him clean he was toweled off and then lifted up using the sheet that he slept on while fresh linens were put on the bed. He was replaced on the bed with care, special attention being given to placing his head gently because there was a wound on his brow that seemed to be the one causing his long sleep. The ladies then redressed the man in clean linen breeches and a loose shirt. Anna took strips of cloth and wrapped them around his worst looking wounds so they would be covered and stay clean.

Anna stepped back and curtsied to Marie “Very good work ladies.” 

The women left, all save one of the girls that Marie asked stay behind wait in case of any further needs.  
Marie stood back and looked at the man from a distance as she had been since she came in, He was slender but he looked strong. Perhaps he was a shepherd or fowler to have such a lithe frame. 

He certainly didn’t look like what Marie would have pictured for the notorious outlaw. Good Lord what if the bandits had assaulted an innocent man mistaking him for Robin Hood. Marie was lost in wild thoughts of outlaws and bandits when she heard a groan from the bed. The sudden sound in the quiet room startled her at first especially when her guest had been as still as death since his arrival. 

The sound he made now was so piteous that she couldn’t help as her motherly instinct to comfort compelled her to his side. She approached without regard for her own safety and placed a hand on his shoulder. He grimaced at her touch whether from fear or pain she knew not she removed her hand and moved up to brush his hair out of his face. 

As she brushed the damp hair back she got her first good look at his face and she felt a pang of recognition. She had seen his face of course she could have told you he had a slim, well boned face with dark hair over his lip and upon his chin but now standing over him she could see he was quite young and quite handsome and familiar to her even if she did not know from where. 

Perhaps he was from the village nearby and she had seen him from her carriage window. She pulled the chair up to the bedside and sat to study him as if memorizing his features now would shake loose her memory. 

He groaned again and she leaned over and offered some simple words said softly to comfort him. As she did her hand brushed his face and she could tell he had a fever. She rose from her seat not wishing to yell and went to the doorway where her young attendant was perched on a stool. “Fetch me a pitcher with cool water, a basin, and cloth, Tell Anna to make a tea of feverfew and have it sent up.” 

“Straight away, my lady.”

When Marie returned to her seat the guest once again startled her. As she looked to his face she saw he had one eye cracked open and staring toward the ceiling. His brows knit with pain and frustration.

“God be good,” she greeted him with a soft kind voice. “You have woken, I feared you might not.” She could see that though his eye was open he was still not there with her which she knew could come with fever. He made no acknowledgement of her presence and his eye slid shut again. He seemed to be asleep once more.

The girl returned, carefully set the things on the table by the bed for her mistress and was dismissed. 

Marie knew it was not of her station to take this into her own hands but she felt somehow like she must. She wet the cloth in the cool water and careful to avoid the bandage wrapping his head she wiped his face and neck off and then placed the damp cloth on his forehead. She hoped the coolness would ease his fever and the pain he must be feeling in his head. 

Tbc...


	2. So Familiar

A little later, after Anna had brought the herbal tea to the room and the young girl had brought Marie her sewing, Marie placed a newly dampened cloth on the young man’s forehead and saw both of his eyes were open now and looking at her. They were large and dark, wild but also held great kindness. 

“Oh.” She said in a breathy voice as the sight of his eyes brought crashing waves of memories to the forefront of her mind. Before she could get another word out his eyes were closed again and she was left wondering if what she’d seen was true or if her mind was playing tricks on her. She felt she'd just seen the eyes of a boy long dead. 

Could it be? Could it be possible that this familiar man, this possible outlaw was so familiar to her because he was the stepson she thought she’d lost years ago in the Norman attack that killed her husband? 

Marie’s head started to spin and she thought she might faint, the thought of her stepson being alive after she thought him dead for nearly ten years was overwhelming. 

Then he groaned and coughed and she came to her senses. She wasn’t going to faint and there was truly very little chance that this was Robert and a much better chance that this was someone who looked similar enough to him for her foggy memory to play tricks on her active imagination. 

She performed some further ministrations and wished that her charge would wake enough to have some tea. The tea would help greatly with the fever that seem to be holding on. 

She covered him with a blanket as a not all together unpleasant breeze came through the open window. She turned back to her needle work and eventually her thoughts turned to Robert and his father. 

It had been the second marriage for both of them. Roderick Fitzooth Earl of Locksley had just had his son Robert, having lost his wife and young daughter to the same illness years before. Marie had brought her young son and daughter who were less than half of Robert’s twelve years. 

He had been a kind if mischievous and lonely child when she'd met him. He’d not remembered much of his mother and Sister. His father though he was a kind man to Marie and her children had always seemed overly heavy handed with Robert. When asked about it he said he was merely toughening the boy up to rule like his father had him. 

Robert had taken well to being joined by Marie and her children and became a good older brother. She’d come to think of him as her own son. 

The last time she’d seen Robert he’d been a charming boy of sixteen, the same age as her son now, who had everything going for him, a good education and prospects that his father was supporting him on and an arranged marriage that had been turning into a love match. All that was put aside as the Normans advanced. 

Marie and her children had bid farewell to Robert and his father as the Norman threat got closer to their lands. She had begged for Robert to be allowed to travel to the safety of her people's land with her but his father had insisted his place was at Locksley. It was not long after she and her children had been taken in by her family that news came of the attack and deaths of both her husband and Robert had come. 

She grieved terribly their loss and she was in mourning for a long time after. She lamented that she could not have proper funerals for them and that she had nothing of Robert’s to remember the boy by. She hoped neither of them had suffered in the end and that Robert had not been scared. 

She had had many nightmares over the years of the Normans attacking and of not being able to protect her loved ones. The worst of these dreams were always punctuated with Robert lying dead on the cold ground of the hearth room to remind her that she couldn’t protect them at all.

Marie shook her head to try and put these ill thoughts out of her mind. The attack was many years ago and it would do her no good to dwell on it. Especially not when the one man who seemed to be actually doing something about the Norman threat lay in the bed before her. 

The day passed. 

Food was brought in for her when Marie refused to go to sup even at the urging of Kirk who assured her the the man on the bed was going nowhere and that she was too far above this common outlaw to stay by his bedside anyway.

She had refused and took her meal in the small chamber. She watched for the rise and fall of the man's chest because he had not made a sound in a very long time. He didn't seem as warm as he had before so Marie believed his fever had broken but his skin was rather pale and damp to the touch. She put another blanket on top of him as the shutters were closed against the night air and candles were lit in the room for her. 

The light was too dim for needle work so Marie focused on her prayers when the man on the bed shifted and cried out for his mother. Marie's heart skipped a beat, she leaned in closer to him. He was talking in his sleep she could see as he squired uncomfortable under the blankets. 

She laid a hand on his chest remembering how he had responded to being touched on the shoulder. 

“There there...” She spoke. 

“Mother...” he called again causing something twisted in the bottom of Marie's stomach. She reminded herself lots of men call for their mothers when they are injured and ill, he wasn't naming her specifically. She tucked the blankets up around him as he quieted. 

The hour grew late and still Marie chose to kept vigil over the unknown man. It had been quiet for a long stretch when dreams seemed to over take the young man again. “Father no.” He shouted. 

Marie leaned in close once more this time she spoke “Who is your Father?” she tried and he turned his face towards her voice. 

He spoke again more agitated then before. “You should be away from here, it is too dangerous.” His panicked statement seemed to be directed to her though his eye weren't open. He thrashed “Father, Father please.” He cried. 

“Wake up, please wake up, you are having a nightmare. You are alright, you are safe.” She said to him. The door behind her opened and Kirk Stood in the doorway alert to the raised voices and the chance of threat. 

“It is just a dream Kirk.”

“All the same ma'am.” 

“See he's quieting already.” 

“Ma'am don't you think you should return to your chamber for the night. Call one of the girls or I could even bring a guard to sit with him if you are so concerned for the outlaw.”

“I will remain, back to your post please. I will be fine.”Kirk turned with a displeased look. She knew he liked to think he knew what was best for her and most of the time she did trust his judgement. Today was not one of those days however, she had to do this whether he or even she understood why. 

The man had quieted by the time she and Kirk were finished. He signed heavily in his sleep and looked frustrated in his sleep. Marie took the now dried cloth and soaked up the remaining water in the basin by the bedside. She placed the damp cloth upon his forehead once again “Find peace in your dreams, you are safe for tonight.” 

The next morning

Michael looked for his mother in the morning after not seeing her at all the night before, he had heard a rummer that she was in the North wing with Robin Hood. He had not believed the twittering of the servants but after not finding her in her chambers the North wing seemed as good a place to look for her as any.  
He knew the rumors were true when he found Kirk standing guard outside one of the rooms looking as if he'd been there all night. 

“Good Morning Master Michael.” Kirk greeted.

“Is Mother within, Kirk.” 

“She is shall tell her you you wish her attention?”

“No, no I will know what is happening here first.”

Kirk knew that the young master was starting to get more and more interested in his parent's affairs and was becoming more and more vocal with his feelings about them. 

“Your Mother had the man who the Bandits believe is Robin Hood brought here to this room to be cleaned up and have his wounds tended to, she has watched over him this night even when she was advised that it was beneath her to do so.”

“Why would she do this?” 

“Your Mother is a woman of her own mind.”

“This I know, what would my step father say about this if was here?”

“I'm sure he would not like it Master Michael.”

“No, no he would not like for Mother to attend to a stranger let alone an outlaw.” 

Michael entered the dark bed chamber, his eyes were slow to adjust and he moved quickly to the window to open the shutters. Turning back into the chamber that was now lit by the morning light the sight he saw shocked him even more than what he thought he would find. 

In the chamber he saw his mother asleep on the small rough bed and a man asleep in the chair next too it. Without taking a second to calm himself or to think about who or what he was seeing he stormed across the small room in two strides and took hold of the sleeping man's shoulders and shook him. 

“What have you done to my mother?” Michael screamed. The wounded young man's eyes flew open and his whole body tensed as he was shook. Kirk came running in the door sword drawn. 

Marie woke to shouting and saw as she sat up her son and her man Kirk man handling her charge from the chair she had been sat in the last she remembered. 

“Stop, stop this instance, put him down.” 

At Marie's command Michael stepped back and Kirk let go of the man's collar and he fell heavily back down to the chair groaning. 

Michael was speaking now to her but her focus was on the young dark haired man seated before her. He was wake and now she would finally find out the answer to all her questions. 

He held his head which no doubt ached but he looked up when she spoke to him. “Are you the outlaw the people call Robin Hood?”

His eyes met her's and she felt their piercing intensity and met it unwavering. “I am.”

“And do you know me?” Marie held her breath.

“I do my lady.” He said with all seriousness. Marie's heart leaped and nearly bounded out of her chest with his words. She couldn't believe it, her hand covered her mouth as she laughed and cried and gasped all at once. 

Michael interjected loudly in a frustrated attempt to be heard. “What is going on?”

Marie and Robin both looked to him and back at each other. The recognition in his eyes chased any scrap of doubt she had away. This was Robert. This was a miracle.

“He's grown up.” Robin gave her a sad smile. 

“Yes, and you, my goodness you...” She could hardly contain her joy and excitement. “You were dead. They told me you were dead.” Marie threw the blankets back that covered her and went to Robin placing her hand on the side of her face. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd see you again.”

“I am sorry. I should have found a way to let you know I had escaped with my life. I...I ...” He placed his hand over her's. 

“You have been busy, we have heard of your exploits. You shall have to tell me the whole story later. Now you should rest and eat.”

“Michael go to the kitchen and inform them I will break my fast here with my guest.” Michael looked from his mother to the man who called himself Robin Hood and wondered what could possibly be happening. 

“Mother?” He asked, the one word conveying so much confusion.

“Oh, oh.” Marie realized that her son was too young to remember the face of a step brother who had been dead for nearly a decade. 

“Michael, you remember Robert your brother?”

“Yes I remember Robert my half brother, Robert died. A man came and told us he'd died with his father.” 

“Yes we thought that my darling, but this is Robert, he is alive.”

“I, I don't believe you. How can that be him?” 

“I know it sounds crazy Michael but...” Robin started but his head started to pound and he had to stop mid sentence. Being shaken awake this morning had not done his aching head any favors. 

“Alright, enough. You to bed.” Marie took Robin by the elbow and guided him back to the bed and helped him lay back onto the pillows. 

“You will go to the kitchen as I've asked and in good time things we do not understand will be made clear.” Michael grudgingly left and Marie dismissed Kirk. She sat back down in the chair and thought to take up her sewing again, but once her eyes fell on Robert she sat transfixed looking at him as he slept peacefully. 

“It looks Brangwen like your boy is more like you then you ever knew.”

Tbc...


End file.
